The Winner of the GOP Iowa Caucus was Just Announced and Many are Shocked

Most polls showed bombastic billionaire and reality TV star Donald Trump ahead of Texas senator and constitutional conservative Ted Cruz in the days leading up to the Iowa Caucus Monday evening.

The latest Quinnipiac poll, released on Monday, just hours before the first voter test in the nation, showed Trump with a seven percentage point lead over Cruz, 31% to 24%, followed by Marco Rubio at 17% and Dr. Ben Carson at 8%.

No other Republican presidential candidate polled above 5%.

The Des Moines Register poll, historically considered the most accurate of the Iowa presidential polls, came out Saturday. It showed Trump leading Cruz by five points, with Rubio in a distant third, eight points behind Cruz. That final poll had Trump at 28%, Cruz at 23%, Rubio at 15%, and Carson at 10%.

However, the final results are in for the Iowa Caucus and guess what, the polls were WRONG!

Ted Cruz’s massive ground game, reportedly an army of over 10,000 volunteers, paid off for the anti-establishment candidate as he decisively defeated Trump, 28% to 24%, with Marco Rubio coming in third place at 23%, with 99% reporting.

Both Cruz and Rubio widely outperformed the final Des Moines Register poll, with Rubio almost surpassing Trump in the final numbers.

On Sunday, the volatile Trump called Cruz “a total liar” and continued to spew birtherism against him after saying in September that it was a non-issue. These attacks also failed to hurt Cruz.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 60% of Americans found Trump unfavorable, historically an extremely high number, especially considering those polled viewed scandal-plagued liar Hillary Clinton in a more favorable light.

Trump’s skipping of the last GOP debate over his perceived kerfuffle with FOX News moderator Megyn Kelly, may have also hurt Trump, considering he later lied that the boycott was not about Kelly.

Moreover, it appears that Cruz crushed Trump over the “New York” values — liberal values — that Trump attempted to turn into being about 9/11. FOX News reported that entrance polls taken Monday indicated that an overwhelming plurality of Republican voters shared Ted Cruz’s values and Donald Trump was nowhere to be seen:

The Cruz campaign is hopeful that his Iowa win will provide momentum going into the upcoming New Hampshire (Feb. 9) and South Carolina (Feb. 20) primaries where Donald Trump shows sizable leads according to recent polls.

About the Author

A former Washington State U.S. Congressional candidate in 2010, Matthew attended the nation’s first modern day Tea Party in 2009 in Seattle, Washington. He also began writing and blogging that year.
Matthew became a Certified Financial Planner in 1995 and was a Financial Advisor for 24 years in his previous life.
Matthew was one of the three main writers leading a conservative news site to be one of the top 15 conservative news sites in the U.S. in a matter of months. He brings to PolitiStick a vast amount of knowledge about economics as well as a passion and commitment to the vision that our Founding Fathers had for our Republic.